Blade- The embryo is measuring 6 weeks 1 day. The tech did a trans vaginal ultrasound when she could not find the heartbeat with the regular one. I could not hear anything but static, but the machine recorded the rate. My doctor did mention that she was concerned about ordering the ultrasound because the heart rate may not be found if I was only about 6 weeks, and I could be needlessly worried, but ordered it anyway because of uncertainty about how far along I was. I could have been 10-11 weeks (I messed up my birth control in April, not May- interestingly enough I must have conceived while taking my pills perfectly). I will request another ultrasound and see if things improve. I guess maybe the heart just started today possibly and I did read that under 100 is normal at the start, but 76 is still really low.

missus - I'll second cvdutch that spotting is fairly normal during the first trimester. I would try not to fret too much as long as your levels are falling within the normal range. I know that's easier said than done though!

ducky - Congrats and welcome!!

lovewn - I'm with blade. It's a bit early to be hanging your hat on that heart rate if it just started. Hugs, though, cause this stuff can be so overwhelming! Here's hoping that you get a kickass ultrasound in a couple of weeks :nod:

In very early pregnancy the embryo itself, as well as the heartbeat, can only be measured by TVUS. Again, cardiac motion does not start till day 44 of pregnancy (30 days after conception, roughly). If your embryo measured 6&1, and that stacks up to your LMP (I know you mentioned you 'messed up' birth control but did you have a period in early-mid May?), then 76 is almost certainly, 100%, your own heartbeat which was picked up from the uterine arteries. This is why extremely early visits are horrible-- they don't give you any good information other than that the pregnancy is not ectopic, and not a 'blighted ovum.'

Thanks for the reassurance and well wishes! My doctor called me back today and said that everything is probably fine. The reason I was worried was because pretty much all the information out there says that a heart rate under 80 at six weeks has about an 80% chance of miscarriage. She said that she was aware of the statistics and had even advised a recent patient with a similar situation to take it easy and to expect a miscarriage. She reviewed my ultrasound and the embryos measurements show that it is not expected to have a heart rate for another day or two and that what was detected was probably the embryo's heart just "pumping" not exactly beating yet, whatever that means. So, I have an ultrasound to recheck the heart on the 2nd and not much reason to think there will be any problems. Finding out I was not as far along as I thought has brought some worries, but at least that means that I've been taking my vitamins from the very beginning and that this baby is due on it's brother's third birthday.

Lovewn, we went through something sort of similar at the beginning, and it turned to be a bunch of hulabaloo over nothing at all. They dated me ahead of what I KNEW gestation was, because my LMP put us nearly 4 weeks later than the conception date I knew we had. I spent a week worrying because they didn't see what they should've seen for 9.5 weeks (it was an empty sac), then a week later all was fine and healthy for a 6.5 week pregnancy. I was so angry at the tech and OB for not listening to me; they were adamant that I had a blighted ovum and told me that they should've seen more even at 5.5 weeks. Then a week later they both played dumb and said things like "why didn't you tell us you were earlier than we thought?" and "I guess science wasn't good enough this time!" Ugh.

Of course since we started the pregnancy off on a worrisome note, I'm still sitting around worrying about miscarriage statistics and my very mild symptoms... even though that first appointment has no bearing on the health of this pregnancy. We saw & heard a heartbeat of 118 at 6w 4d so our miscarriage risk is relatively low.

All that to say, I tend to think OB visits are like going to a new hairdresser. Appointment one doesn't mean much until you have appointment two, when they have the benefit of context.